Whatever Happened to the Dixie Highway?

The story of the Dixie Highway is the story of American travel from
blazed trail to superhighway. The Dixie Highway still serves the
public, albeit in a manner the early road boosters could scarcely
have dreamed.

In the early days of the
automobile, getting places was an adventure. You quickly learned
which of your local roads were suitable. Long distance journeys
were more complicated. The best method of the day was to buy an
expensive tour book and have someone to read out the turn-by-turn
directions, much like the modern electronic devices. Road maps,
another option, still required a navigator.

A better system for identifying
good routes for travel was needed.

Trail associations were born.

Trail Associations were public /
private partnerships. Their membership included state road boards,
automobile booster clubs (like AAA), hotels, construction
companies, and civic organizations like the UDC. Trail
organizations collected dues to improve and promote a specific
path connecting two or more destinations. Each trail association
came up with a name and a marker. Notable men from the War Between
the States were frequently honored in this manner. Often these
roads were sectional, northern and southern roads keeping to their
own regions.

The road we call the Dixie
Highway started out as a plan to connect Chicago to Jacksonville,
crossing the north – south divide. In the “Southern Good Roads”
magazine (1) published in December 1914, it was reported that W.S.
Gilbreath of Indianapolis was promoting such a trail to be called
the “Cotton Belt Route” at the fourth annual American Road
Congress on November 9th. He was interviewed by the
Atlanta Constitution and stated, “It is not at all impossible … to
put one direct road from Louisville to Jacksonville … and be ready
by next fall for the thousands of tourists who would gladly flock
to the south.”

By February 1915, “Dependable
Highways” magazine (2) was reporting a new name, “Dixie Highway to
signalize fifty years of peace.” By that time, Indiana, Illinois,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida were on board.
Chattanooga was enthused about the potential auto trail.
Intervening communities were starting to compete to be on the
route. Miami started to push for a southern extension from
Jacksonville.

By May 1915, “The Road-Maker”
magazine (3) was reporting on the April formative meeting of the
“Dixie Highway Association”. Ohio was added to the states planning
a connection to the Dixie Highway via Cincinnati. President
Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram of congratulations to the
gathering.

The competition for inclusion
along the Dixie Highway was so strong that instead of a single
“Dixie Highway”, a “Dixie Highway System” was born. As reported in
“The Road-Maker” magazine for July 1915 (4), Michigan was added to
the highway association, bringing te highway north to Mackinac
City. Fierce rivalries between boosters of the Louisville –
Nashville and Cincinnati – Lexington - Knoxville routes were both
appeased. Florida now had a connection through Tallahassee as well
as the planned route from Macon to Jacksonville.

By December 1915, “Southern Good
Roads” magazine (5) was reporting the slogan of the Dixie Highway
association was “We all live on the same street.” The first sign
was announced, a blue bale of cotton with the words “Dixie
Highway” on it. These signs were to be posted in 1916. Markers
were to be placed at all county lines and at places of historical
interest.

The cotton bale sign proved to
be too complex for everyday usage and few examples survive. The
more common and famous sign was white-red-white with a white “DH”
on the red band, or a band of red bisecting a white sign
horizontally. Tri-banded trail signs were the most common and
prolific. They could be painted on telephone poles and were far
cheaper to produce than more complex symbols for route
identification.

As the original planned mainlines were
completed, other communities joined the Dixie Highway. In 1916,
routes for the western Dixie Highway extended south from
Tallahassee through Ocala, Orlando and Fort Myers to rejoin the
Dixie Highway at Miami. (6)

The final addition to the Dixie
Highway, completing the eastern route, was a line of existing
highways stretching from Knoxville to Asheville, NC to Greenville,
SC and connecting to Waynesboro, GA. (7)

This 1923 map of the Dixie
Highway was issued by The Dixie Highway Association and shows the
location of the highway in each State. Like today, road
construction was always occurring somewhere along the system,
financed with road bonds and supported with Federal Aid.

The Trail Associations had
achieved the goal of making good roads a matter of concern for
everybody. The final flower of that concern was the replacing of
those auto trails with a system of numbered US highways, agreed to
on Armistice Day, 1926. The numbered grid broke up the named
highways. Some claimed that cold numbers could not inspire like a
well-chosen name. As the states moved to erect the now familiar
six point shields in 1927, many civic organizations like the UDC
sprung into action, placing and re-placing historical markers
before the names and events were lost to history.

The Florida Division was the
second state to place a monument marker for the Dixie Highway.
This marker was near the Florida-Georgia boundary (modern US 319).
The dedication of this marker was September 30, 1927. “The land
was donated by Anna Jackson Chapter member, Mrs. Nicolas Ware
Epps, Honorary Division President.” (8) Paramount News was on hand
to film the outstanding event, which drew over one thousand
attendees. Of special interest were three Ohio Union soldiers.
These men were in the area to return captured General Finley’s
Brigade’s Confederate flag.

Included in the program for the
unveiling of this marker is “This Marker is placed on the Dixie
Highway in the State of Florida by the Florida Division, United
Daughters of the Confederacy, as a Memorial to our beloved
Chieftain General Robert E. Lee.” (9) The bronze plate with
General Lee on Traveler was placed on a concrete marker. The
inscription reads “Erected and Dedicated by the United Daughters
of the Confederacy and Friends in Loving Memory of Robert E. Lee
and to mark the Route of Dixie Highway…Erected in 1927.” (10) The
marker was originally located north of Killearn Lakes Development
(originally a part of Pine Hill Plantation). The marker was later
moved near the DeSoto Trail marker near Maclay Gardens. At the
time the highway was widened, it was placed in storage. During
this time it deteriorated, and was found by Gene and Sue Cowger in
very poor condition. The marker was repaired and cleaned and
relocated to its present location. The Anna Jackson Chapter
rededicated the monument at its present location on January 19,
2009, the anniversary of General Lee’s birthday.

Two Historical Places – Historic
LaGrange Church and Cemetery and LaGrange Community (colored)
Cemetery are located on the “Old Dixie Highway.” The church is
located at 1560 Old Dixie Highway and the Community (colored)
Cemetery at 1575. According to one source, a Dixie Highway marker
(picture is shown) is located on the Brevard-Volusia County Line;
however, the marker may or may not remain.

Many of the markers may be
missing or moved to other locations, as did the one in North
Florida. The idea of travel between the Midwest and the South is
carried forward by I-75, which connects the most northern extent
of the Dixie Highway in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Miami,
Florida. The decision to name the nascent route “Dixie Highway” in
1915 to commemorate 50 years of American peace still resonates
today, reminding us of what connects us, the ties that bind our
country together: Freedom, Commerce, and History.

"The" Dixie Highway ends up being an
incomplete description. Dixie Highway was a system of roads. Every
major paved road along the way was added in.
The Dixie Highway today exists primarily on street signs. Local
roads bear witness of a grand past as major interstate corridors.
Today, you could make a good case for calling I-75 the Modern
Dixie Highway, it follows the east DH leg from Canada / Upper
Michigan to Knoxville, then bears southwesterly along the DH
Tennessee Connector to Chattanooga and follows along the DH west
leg from there south to Miami, reforging a link broken when the US
numbered highway system was forged.
This website is an attempt to give connections to those various
city streets, as an aid the modern auto-tourist and to answer the
curious among us who looked up at a faded street sign and
wondered... where did this Dixie Highway go?

Georgia's Dixie Highway
- from Ringgold, GA south to Marietta, GA, 13 communities
including Dalton, Calhoun, Adairsville, Cartersville, Acworth
& Kennesaw have revived their section of the Highway. Lots
of local history here.

Page first posted by Robert V. Droz on November
29, 2001
Page last updated
February 19, 2014

Post 'completion' message:
Making this site was similiar to putting together a jigsaw
puzzle with half of the pieces missing and a faded picture of
the original box. Undoubtedly many segments were missed along
the way, or I described a segment that is now undrivable. Please
let me know if you find one.